Newly crowned Welsh Open champion Gary Wilson admitted he was sharing a ‘sob story’ after sealing glory in Llandudno. ‘The Tyneside Terror’ grabbed a third ranking title win with a 9-4 win over Martin O’Donnell on Sunday night, backing up his dramatic semi-final win over John Higgins.
In that clash, Wilson nailed a maximum 147 break to prevail 6-4, and showed no sign of let-up in the final. And the 38-year-old overcame a match delay after a member of the crowd was taken ill to repel the threat of a fight back from O’Donnell, who gave himself hope by reducing the deficit to 7-4 before Wilson reeled off back-to-back frames.
And afterwards, the victor paid an emotional tribute to ex-coach Stan Chambers. The pair worked together beef Chambers, renowned for his work as a coach and mentor within the sport, died in 2022.
“Another one of them sob stories I’m afraid,” Wilson told Eurosport. “You just go through a lot of years of struggling and as Martin said, you have a lot more downs than you have ups. I’m just grateful I’ve had a few ups recently. It’s been amazing lately.
“Don’t really know what else to say other than, if I’m going to mention something, Stan Chambers. I mentioned it the first tournament I won. I’m not doing too bad Stan am I? I’m getting there for you mate, trying my best.”
Indeed, all three of Wilson’s tournament wins have come since Chambers passed away. In December, he successfully defended his Scottish Open title in Edinburgh, edging out Zhou Yuelong 6-5 in the final.
Whilst the world No.16 admitted the finale in north Wales was far from an all-time classic, but also praised his opponent for his performance over the week. “It was a bit of a scrappy game but you’ve just got to battle on and that’s all I tried to do,” he added.
“I’m really happy and want to say congratulations to Martin. He’s had a great tournament, battled really hard today and showed his class around the table.”
Wilson’s current ranking has earned him a spot at the Players Championship in Telford this week. On Tuesday, he’ll take on Hossein Vafaei, in what will be just his fourth tournament campaign after reaching the quarter-final stage last year.
